Post-Brexit US-UK Trade Deal Under Threat

U.S. Democratic party lawmakers are threatening to kill any free trade deal Britain strikes with the Trump administration, if a post-Brexit border is re-established across the island of Ireland. They argue a so-called "hard border" threatens a peace agreement the U.S.-brokered in the 1990s, which ended three-decades of violence in Northern Ireland.The warnings from senior Democrats come just days after President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, John Bolton, said Britain would be the first in line for a fast-tracked free trade agreement with the United States when Britain leaves the European Union.In a letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’d join both Democratic and Republican counterparts in the House of Representatives in “vigorously and vociferously” opposing any free trade deal, if post-Brexit customs checks are re-established on the border separating Northern Ireland from the Irish Republic, which is an EU member state.During a visit last week to London, Bolton said Trump was enthusiastic about a trade deal. Earlier this month, Pompeo told visiting British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab that the Trump administration will be ready, “pen in hand,” to sign “a new free trade agreement at the earliest possible time” after Britain breaks with the EU.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to lead Britain out of the EU without any deal on Oct. 31, come what may, deal or no deal. Irish-American U.S. lawmakers say if that promotes the re-emergence of a border on the island of Ireland, it would prevent him from striking a trade deal with the U.S. — at least one that gets the seal of approval on Capitol Hill.FILE - John Bolton, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, right, is welcomed at Downing Street by Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid in London, Britain, Aug. 13,... If you wish to read this full breaking news headline, plus more articles from around Thailand and Asia like, Post-Brexit US-UK Trade Deal Under Threat, simply click on
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